Our "Office" space

Our Spruced up Office Space

You might recall the dark nook we lit up is located next to our "office" within the laundry room.  I put office in quotations because it's not what most picture as an office.  It's really just another nook in an odd room.

The space is about 4 feet by 9 feet with floor to ceiling wood paneling, a small window with shutters and some previously hung shelves adorning the walls.  Overall, it's a cozy little space to store our paperwork and not have to be too far from family when tackling the lonely task of budget balancing. (hmm..maybe this cozy office nook is what Congress needs to get that budget balanced?)

If it weren't for the sad condition of the ceiling in this office, we would have left the room as is and just stocked it with our stuff.  However, the ceiling is covered in white, composite ceiling tiles that are overcome by gravity's forces, which I had a picture of on my old phone that has died.

After donning the appropriate safety gear (never start a DIY project without them goggles, gloves, and respirators!) the ceiling came down with hardly any encouragement from us and our handy bars.
With the walls bare of their shelving and the nook empty, we assessed the room and dreamed of how to make the space "ours" within the confines of a very small budget.

With the ceiling cleared and the book shelves off, this was the first time either of us got a good look at the state of the walls.  The wood paneling was dry, faded, and in bad need of some TLC.  Also, Mr. DIY wasn't a fan of the walnut finish. So we gave the paneling a drink of some darker stain and were both pleased with the rejuvenated finish.

Painted foam ceiling tiles

For the ceiling we decided to install faux tin tiles.  The real tin is gorgeous but pricey.  So we saved our pennies for other projects and purchased foam ceiling tiles (HomeDepot.com) that we then spray painted to our desired color before simply gluing them to the ceiling with construction adhesive.

For this room we liked the cozy, manly feel that the darkened wood panels created, so we chose a bronze paint for the ceiling tiles and crown molding.

remnants of the former shelves

As a finishing touch we rehung the shelves on only one-half of the office and used the other wall to display academic and personal achievements.  I wish the nail holes weren't still visible on the achievement wall but am not sure how to hide them.  Maybe that's a trick one of us will discover as we continue on this DIY journey.










Thanks for stopping by our neck of the DIY neighborhood. And as our favorite neighbor Mr. Rogers used to say, "You always make each day a special day for me, by just being you. There's only 1 person in this WHOLE world like you; that's you yourself, and people can like you exactly the way you are.  I'll be back next time. Bye-bye!"

Bye-bye neighbor!